An up-to-date overview of acute and chronic pancreatitis. The two authors with special interests in this field deal with the aetiology, pathophysiology, and clinical features of these diseases, as well as complications, treatment strategies, and prognostic factors. Two chapters on congenital abnormalities and hereditary pancreatic diseases round off this book. Intelligently-structured for everyday practice, this can also be used as an actual reference book. For gastroenterologists in clinic and practice.

In the past several years much progress has been made in understanding the basic mechanisms of pancreatic physiology and the pathogenesis, diagnosis, and treatment of pancreatic disease. A symposium took place in Munich on 18-19 September 1998 that aimed at summarizing current knowledge of the exocrine pancreas and giving di rection to future research. It targeted all practitioners and scientists working in the field of exocrine pancreatic disease. The symposium was also designed to stimulate young persons embarking on a career in this area. It was an exciting meeting for all of us. We wish to extend our thanks to all participants for their prompt submission of manuscripts and to Springer Verlag for speedy publication, providing us with an up-to-date volume on pancreatic research. We would also like to thank G. Beyendorff-Hajda and W. Glockner, as well as D. Kriiger, representatives of Knoll Deutschland GmbH, for their organiza tional assistance and Knoll itself for its generous sponsorship, which enabled colleagues from other countries to participate and made publication of the symposium possible."

Dieses Buch pr{sentiert neueste Forschungsergebnisse zur Be- deutung von Pankreasenzymen f}r die normale Verdauung und untersucht die Notwendigkeit der Enzymsubstitution bei Un- terfunktion und Erkrankungen des Pankreas.